Vol . 7, No. 9 
Page 2 
some plots. Although the quality of the seedings was much improved the following 
summer (1964) and the weed problems were somewhat diminished, it is still consider¬ 
ed impractical to establish extensive numbers of seedings over a broad area with 
the methods employed in the spring of 1962. 
In an attempt to improve the quality of seeded plots, additional seedings 
were undertaken during the late summers of 1963 and 1964. After plowing and 
disking, mechanical seeding by use of a brill ion seeder was employed on a mile- 
long plot (2 acres) during August 1963; during September 1964, an additional mile 
was seeded by the same method. Also, a hydro-seeder provided by the State Highway 
Department was used to seed a mile of roadside during September 1964. The hydro¬ 
seeder, a machine which applies the seed mixture under high pressure with the use 
of water, is used primarily for rapid seeding of slopes along highways. The plots 
seeded with the brill ion and the hydro-seeder are adjacent, so that the comparative 
success of the seedings can be evaluated. The mile of roadside seeded with the 
brill ion seeder in August 1963 provided relatively weed-free, high quality pheasant 
nesting cover the following summer. The brill ion seeder is superior to hand 
application with a cyclone seeder because it distributes the seed more evenly and 
makes a firm seed bed. A reliable comparison between the success of the brill ion 
and the hydro-seeder applications in September 1964 will not be possible until next 
summer when the seedings mature, although the two applications appeared to have 
similar rates of germination approximately 3 weeks after seeding. Assuming both 
seeding methods result in comparable stands of grasses and legumes, the principal 
value of the hydro-seeder would lie in its great speed of application, approximate¬ 
ly 25 times faster than the brill ion seeder and 50 times faster than the hand 
cyclone seeder. 
Although it appears that both the brill ion and the hydro-seeder may provide 
highly reliable and (particularly in the case of the hydro-seeder) rapid means of 
establishing seedings, both can be applied only to seed beds previously plowed 
and disked. Therefore, the best way to establish seedings with only minimum 
tillage appears to lie in some form of chemical seedbed preparation which employs 
one of several chemical defoliates developed for use in pasture renovation. This 
method combines spraying and seeding in the same operation, with the sprayer 
attached to a specially designed sod seeder. The use of such a chemical on a 
segment of roadside on the Sibley Study Area during September 1964 will be discussed 
in a later report. 
3- Factors Inf 1uencinq Distribution and Abundance of Pheasants W. L. Anderson 
As in past years, indications of reproductive success of pheasants experimen¬ 
tally released on the Neoga and Bellmont areas, located south of the established 
pheasant range, were obtained during the summer of 1964 by observations and by 
interviews with farmers. At Bellmont, 52 individual broods were located; 15 of 
these broods were accompanied by California hens, 27 by California or native hens, 
l by a Korean hen, and 9 by hens of undetermined origin. On this area, each of 
14 broods for which the counts of chicks were thought to be complete had an average 
of 5-9~0-2 chicks (average age 5-9 weeks). In addition, 71 percent (15) of 21 hens 
